How Soon After Surgery Can I Have Implants "Refilled" to the Size I Truly Wanted?

It's has been 7 weeks after my surgery for implants. I'm very disappointed that my doctor went "his" way rather than do it what I asked him to do. I wanted a rather large size and he decided to go less than what I wanted at the time of surgery. He has suggested that he could go back and "add" more saline to the implant without having to go into a OR. But I need to wait another 2 months? do I need to wait that long and how much it's the approximate cost to do this procedure.

Doctor Answers 1

Hard to pick the right breast implant size

August 12th, 2012

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The most difficult decision to make before breast implant surgery is the selection of the implant size. I believe in involving the patient in the decision making process by trying on breast implant sizers before surgery and looking at hundreds of before and after pictures of other women who are similar in size and shape to determine the correct size implant to use. This can be a slow and tedious process, but it has my breast implant revision rate down to about 1%.

Having done this, sometimes the correct size is still not chosen. I would wait at least 2 months after the initial surgery before a re-do operation. You will need to go at LEAST 50% bigger then your original size to see any noticeable difference. As an example, if you have 400 cc implants you would not want to choose anything smaller than a 600 cc implant. This is based on performing re-do operations for over 25 years.

Saline implants come in set sizes with a little variability, if you exceed the manufacturer's recommended fill volume, you will lose your life time warranty. Therefore, I would not recommend overfilling your current implant. If you fill a 400 cc implant to 600 cc and it leaks or ruptures, you will have NO WARRANTY. You will need new implants to replace your old ones. Adding a little saline to your implants in an office setting is not the correct approach to fix your problem.

See if your plastic surgeon will work a deal for you, maybe cover the cost of the new implants, or waive his surgeon's fee. Most reputable board certified plastic surgeons will stand behind their work and give you that guarantee, I know I do. You may also consider switching to silicone implants, saline are fine and I still use them, but silicone feel and look more natural

Breast Implants Pictures

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